The Dispute Settlement Body of the World Trade Organisation has adopted the rulings in the shrimp cases in favour of India and Thailand.

Bond requirements

The cases were filed by India and Thailand against the ‘enhanced continuous bond requirements’ which were to be paid to the US Customs for Indian and Thailand’s shrimp imports into the US markets.

This bond was over and above the mandatory anti-dumping duty that was to be paid for shrimp exports to the US.

The findings and reports of the WTO Panel and the Appellate Body were accepted by the Dispute Settlement Body, sources in the Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI) said.

Both the Indian and Thai cases were concerned with the enhanced continuous bond requirements for shrimp exports, which had been imposed by the US Customs since February 1, 2005. The bond requirements necessitated additional cash deposits equal to the margin of dumping as per the most recent Administrative Review, as well as a basic bond amount from the US importers.

India and Thailand appealed against the bond requirement at the WTO on April 17, 2008 and the US filed its counter appeal on April 29. Due to the similar subject matter of the two appealing countries, India and Thailand, both the appellate proceedings were consolidated and a single Appellate Body report was issued on July 16.